Sierra gave Evelyn a look of disbelief. "You already have two growing?" she asked. "I have zero. I really haven't even started." She looked around the greenhouse, making sure no one could hear, and then she added, "I wonder if I could just get away with claiming I grew two when I really didn't..." Her voice trailed off. With all the plants in there, how would Bentley know two of them weren't hers? "Nahh, she'd figure it out. Somehow. These professors have eyes in the back of their heads, I think."

She gave Evelyn another look over the brain comment but said nothing else as she raised her wand toward the plant. "Diffindo!" ... "Diffindo!" She continued in this manner as she made her way around the plant, carefully trimming off the edges of the bush and not branches as she'd accidentally done before. The plant was really starting to shape up. She shrugged toward Evelyn and looked at the bush next to her. "Nope, it's all yours."

When the plant was all nicely trimmed, she pointed the wand toward the soil and said, "Aguamenti!" A stream of water shot out her wand, giving the flutterby bush a nice shower. "Finite!" she finally said, ending the water spell. "Alright. How's this one look?" she asked Evelyn.

Dang. She'd been close, but not close enough. 2-3 inches was an E answer. Thankfully, this little session didn't count as a grade. Fertilizer...They'd used dragon dung in class, hadn't they? "Could we use Dragon dung?" she asked. Presley knew in her heart that this had been her problem. She did't think these things through before planting. She'd thought it was the planting, but really it was the thought procces! "It's supposed to be the best general fertilizer, right?"

Did she have two growing? Might have to check that when she went out to the student garden.

For now though, yes, she had two growing already. MWA! "Why not just use the growth charm?" Was Sierra here to learn that one? Or knew it? "I don't think Professor Bentley will notice if you used a charm to help you out."

Why couldn't she think of that earlier actually? She could've saved that part for the last minute too.

Putting on the gloves and the goggles, Evelyn moved around Sierra to the plant on the other side of her. What was this? A flutterby bush? It looked like Sierra's though, just a little more wild looking since she hadn't fixed it yet, but...yea. Flutterby bush. Right. "Diffindo." Beginning to start trimming the plant, lifting up her goggles every now and then to rub the sleep from her eyes so she could see properly, after a moment or so, Evelyn glanced over to her friend's work when asked.

"Looks horrible." Yup. ROFL. "No I'm kidding. It looks great."

"Best general fertilizer, yes," replied Seren, "But considering our Fanged Geraniums are still seeds, what could we use to encourage them to grow faster?... quicker?"
She wasn't just going to give Presley the answers, the aim of this session would be to get her to think about these decisions, use logic to improve her skills. Because she was a young witch with enormous potential... it was just a matter of getting her to realise that and manage her skills. Herbology wasn't all about memorising facts and information. No it was more of a ... way of doing things, tweaking methods for maximum effect.

Kurumi smiled a Jonathan before turning her attention back to the now completely stationary Bouncing Bulbs in the ground. She needed to give them some water and then the first portion of her Herbology assignment would be done. While she was glad for the experience of gaining interaction with plants outside of classes, Kurumi secretly hoped that she wouldn’t have to deal with these particular ones for a while. It was the same feeling she had whenever she thought about Bubotubers. She had had to deal with those her first two terms and was VERY glad that Professor Bentley seemed to think that they had endured enough torture.

Removing her wand from her pocket once more, Kurumi knelt down and pointed it at the base of the bulbs. “Aguamenti,” she said softly and a small but steady stream of water poured forth from her wand. Once the ground had darkened and was moist to the touch, she moved on to the others she had planted into the ground.

Once that was done, she stood back up and looked around the greenhouses. What was something that wouldn’t give her a matching black-eye? Her violet gaze fell on a patch of Abyssinian shrivelfigs. Those were harmless enough, yeah? They weren’t going to try and feed off her flesh or whack her in the face, right? She remembered reading that they needed pruning every two weeks, and it certainly looked like these were overdue. Not to mention that the ground around them looked rather dry and unfertilized as well.

Kurumi looked back at Jonathan and nodded her head towards the supply table. “Let’s grab some sheers and trim the shrivelfigs next,” she chirped – her mind now completely off whatever had been making her sad before. Her hair, however, was still the same color, but at least her mind was distracted with the task at hand. “Cutting sticks and leaves out of the way will bring them closer to the air which is vital for its magic process.” Or something like that.

Presley thought for a moment. "Well, we could use a bit of magic. I know a spell to make your hair grow faster. With a bit of tweaking, it could be used to encourage plant growth." Presley knew Bentley was probably looking for a more, plant-related answer, but that was not what Presley knew. She was all for tweaking what she knew to fit the circumstances. Presley fully planned to go read four more books on Herbology after this session. She was quickly learning how little she knew.

Interesting thinking... but not quite on the topic of fertilizer.
"Um... no." Well this wasn't awkward, at least if anything, Presley would learn something significant today.
"Mooncalf dung."
Yep, a herbologists dream, well for most herbologists anyway. There were those who preferred the conventional Dragon dung or Abraxan dung.
"Moon calf dung is reknown for its effects on the growth of magical plants. It is best used when planting seeds or fresh cuttings, it increases the speed at which the plants grows and it is very good for healthy root growth. Which of course is vital when growing from seeds or cuttings, as they don't yet have roots."

With a swish of her wand Seren had summoned a small bad of mooncalf dung, a trowel and a pair of gloves.
"Now you know the basic theory of planting seeds, I'd like you to take these, and plant those seeds just over there," she said gesturing over Presley's shoulder at an epmty section along the left hand side of the greehouse, right beside a lovely growth of Wiggenbush. "When we plant seeds its often easier to dig a trench as opposed to holes, it doesn't have to be wide, just deep enough."

"Now remember, three to four inches, no more or else they may suffocate, make sure the soil in the bottom of the trench is moist, if its not moist then it will be harder for the seed to germinate." She paused to make sure Presley was following her directions.
"Then add just a touch of Mooncalf dung to the bottom of the trench in small intervals, just where you will be placing the seeds."

Another pause, just to make sure.
"Then you place the seeds down and cover them up with the dirt, add a light sprinkling of water and a little more mooncalf dung, and then your done."

"Remember just a little spinkle of water, you don't want to flush them out."

Watering plants. NICE. If there's one thing Jonathan's good at, it's cleaning. He loves to clean but only when he feels like it though. Other times he just sleeps it off so that he wouldn't be bothered by the messy surroundings inside their dorm room. Bloody Slytherin boys. It's okay to have fun but at least they could learn how to clean their messy. UGH!

Looking at Kurumi watering the plants he remembered how summer is getting nearer and nearer by the second. His parents won't be home though, they're still in Norway. He's just going to stay with his cousins. Well, so-called 'cousins'.

Kurumi is really smart for her age. Jonathan now wonders why she wasn't sorted under the Ravenclaws. She must be more than meets the eye. Jonathan doesn't entirely know much about her. Probably just the basics.

Trimming Shrivelfigs? Is she sure she wants his help with that? Jonathan knows nothing about work and especially about planting and/ or cutting plants. He stood there frozen.

"Okay." Just do what Kurumi does. ACT NORMAL!

Two pairs of sheers in her hands, Kurumi extended her left hand to offer it to Jonathan when she noticed that he looked as though he had seen a troll wearing a frilly pink tutu trying to tap dance. That would be a very frightening thing to see, wouldn't it? Well, okay, perhaps not as terrifying as an Acromantula in the same situation perhaps.

"Are you...afraid of sheers?" she asked innocently. They could be very dangerous she supposed.

Kurumi glanced over at the Shrivelfigs that look like they were suffering from not being trimmed for so long. She reached out and cupped one of its unneeded twigs in her hand.

Moonclalf dung? Presley mentally slapped herslef. Hadn't they talked about that during the last herbology lesson? Of course that would be the best option! Presley listened carefully to all of Bentley's instructions before sliding on her gloves and grabbing a trowel. She very carefully dug a trench, three and a half inches deep and about a foot long. She drizzled the smallest sprinkling of water into the bottom. Presley counted out her seeds, and calculated just how far apart they would each need to be. That being done, she placed little drops of mooncalf dung where the seeds would have to go.
She gently pressed the seeds into the spots of dung, and covered them with perhaps a touch too much dirt. She sprinkled them with water, not enough. but she didn't want to drown the poor seeds. Adding a little more, she lightly coated the top of her now filled in trench with mooncalf dung, and looked to Bentley for approval. Or hopefully approval.

After standing back and admiring the state of the greenhouses, Seren watched on as Presley set to planting the Fanged Geranium seeds. The young Ravenclaw wasn't doing badly, it was evident however that she wasn't comfortable with the work. But all that would come with time, practice and patience.

Being temporarily distracted by a gorgrous bloom of Angels Trumpet, Seren almost didn't notice that Presley had finished.

"Ahh you're done!" she said excitedly getting a little closer to the plot to make sure it was all in check.

"Brilliant work! See, that wasn't so difficult now was it?" mused Seren as she smiled at Presley. "It just takes a little practice, a little patience and some thought. You''ll get the hang of it soon enough." OUt of the corner of her eye Seren caught the time on her pendant watch. Merlin! that had taken some time!

"So sorry dear, but I must be off now, all that homework to start marking. Feel free to keep practicing with different types of plants, there are seeds and bulbs in the store room at the front, or just feel free to look around and familiarise yourself with the plants and their uses. I have every confidence that you will get your O."

Jonathan is certainly not afraid of sheers. They're just huge scissors that is uhmm... well... what else do they do besides cut plants? "I don't know how to do it" he said shyly. Jonathan doesn't work. AT ALL. He's the laziest person on earth. He just loves to sleep and watch quidditch and maybe go around Hogsmead and Diagon Alley to shop. Have some tea and a nice butterbeer with friends.

BUT WORK? LABOR?

School work is the only thing he does. Nothing more. He looked at Kurumi when she handed him the sheers. He took them of course. Big problem was, how does he cut the shrivelfig without actually destroying it. Kurumi has to know, he doesn't want to destroy anything just because he wants to help her. It might just disappoint her to say the least.

"Just teach me how?" he smiled once more as he positioned himself to help her. Jonathan is a fast learner. He may not have work a day in his life but if Kurumi can help him, he might be able to learn something or two from her.

Kurumi giggled softly. Well, that was a relief knowing that Jonathan wasn't afraid of of big scissors. She knew that people could be afraid of very unusual things. Her older brother, Takashi, for example had this fear of drinking from a plastic water bottle. Kurumi assumed that that had something to do with something that her oldest brother had done to him as a child, but she had no proof of this.

"Oh, well...I am not expert on the matter myself," she said shyly looking down at her shoes and then back at the shrivelfig tree. She had helped her mother prune trees and bushes at home, and she now had two - almost three - years of Herbology experience, so she ought to have picked something up by now. "I've read that it is best to prune in the winter because the tree isn't really growing then...I suppose March can still be considered winter, right?" No, wait, Kurumi was thinking about REAL trees since shrivelfigs needed to be pruned every two weeks or so. She...would just keep that to herself for now. "Well, first we need to remove branches that are not growing out from it, things broken and stuck in the leaves and whatnot, as well as any dead or diseased wood," Kurumi explained as she pulled out some stray branches and then took her sheers and softly snipped at a few dead branches and some that were discolored, as well as a few small branches that were growing off the main branches. "Same goes for the leaves...I suppose."

She looked over her shoulder and flashed a smile at him. "See? It's really not all that difficult. Just make sure that you don't snip off a finger or something."

Presley beamed for real this time, in spite of her awful week, she was at this moment delighted. She would get an O, and Bentleyhad said it. Besides reading those four extra books, Presley had every intention of staying and working with the plants. What if their exam was purely practical, and she wasn't sure of what to do with that particular plant? No, Presley would soon be familiar with every living thing in all of the greenhouses and gardens. "Thank you professor Bentley," Presley smiled. "For your time and your patience. I really appreciate it."

It was good the see Presley smiling, she had every right to be happy about what she just accomplished, it was a big step forward, and with hard work and determination, the world would be her oyster.
"No problem, I'm glad I could help. Perhaps we could do this again after the next lesson?" she offered.

"Either way, feel free to stop by my office any time if you have any questions."
With a last smile and a small wave-- which was special considering she didn't bring herself to wave very often, she turned and left the greenhouses, content with the mornings outcome.

Jonathan knew it. He knew that Kurumi would laugh, giggle, snort, smile at him. It's an obvious reaction since everyone finds it funny how Jonathan barely works. He pinched Kurumi's face lightly "Don't tease" he smiled. He's embarrassed himself for owning up to that.

But still, Jonathan did what Kurumi asked him to do. HE CAN DO THIS!!! Yeah! This would be something he could tell his mother about. He listened carefully to Kurumi as he looked at the sheers. Although he snorted when Kurumi still thinks it's winter in March "Not exactly" he commented. Well, it's no longer winter if you think about it. Snow is slowly turning into water already and the roads have been slippery than ever.

Standing next to her Jonathan followed whatever she said. Remove branches. broken things. and leaves. "Got it" he noted. He started to cut the branches on the side. Careful now. No need to destroy the whole tree in one day.

While doing the cutting and removing, Jonathan makes sure he's on track with Kurumi, every 20 or 30 seconds, he glances back to her to see what she's doing. "This is really....fun" he giggled. For the first time, Jonathan finally knew how to cut and remove branches from the tree. Now he wishes he could take a picture and document this one. Send it to his parents in Norway.

Yes, That would have been nice.

0____________________________________0

Jonathan startled at the next comment Kurumi said.

snip off a finger???

"Are you barking?" Jonathan stiffened and stopped cutting. Now he's starting to get scared to screw up. He might loose a finger?

UH-OH!

Oh, wait.

Weren't they supposed to add fertilizer to the plants or something? Sierra wasn't sure, so she just looked at her plant like she was half-expecting it to answer her. She really had no idea how to grow or tend to a plant. She eyed Evelyn out of the corner of her eye, making double sure her friend was preoccupied with her own plant and not watching Sierra.

When she thought the coast was clear, she obtained a bit of fertilizer, sprinkled it around the bottom, then started packing it in. There. That should do it. She pointed her wand toward the place where she'd packed in the fertilizer. "Aguamenti!" ... "Finite!" Well, that was done.

She smirked at Evelyn's comment. "Funny. Really funny," she mumbled. "Now, do you see anything else around here that needs a haircut and a watering?"

'Course it was funny! She was laughing wasn't she? Glancing around, the Slytherin girl shrugged her shoulders, not really seeing anything else that needed a 'haircut' and watering. Of course, she was also being extremely lazy and only looked just to the side of her and only for a second...

"I don't know." she muttered, loosening the soil around the plant slightly before going over to get....how much fertilizer? A...handful would be enough right? Not too much? Yet not too little? It was too EARLY to be doing this!

Sprinkling in the fertilizer, she combined it all around before packing in the soil once more. Perfect. It BETTER be perfect and not die. Otherwise, this wasn't the plant she trimmed, fertilized, and watered. No. Taking off her glove so she didn't dirty her wand, the Slytherin cast a silent aguamenti, before looking around for another plant.

Did Sierra find one yet?

Sierra rolled her eyes, but not in a mean, spiteful way. She rolled her eyes, because she knew her friend had only taken a half glance around, if even that. Well, Sierra just wouldn't help Evelyn find one either. Evelyn would have to do that all be her lonesome. "Oh, here's one," she said. "...right next to you."

It was a rose bush. A mundane plant, but an easy one to take care of, and easy was what she was going for right now. "Hmm...this one looks pretty good, too." Shrug. Less work for her. With all her protective gear still on, she raised her wand to the tree. "Diffindo!" A few poor looking leaves fell to the ground. "Diffindo!" More brown-colored leaves fell to the ground.

Then she set to work watering the plant. "Aguamenti!" She gave the plant a nice shower then ended the spell with a clear "Finite!" Oh, yeah. Fertilizer. She kept forgetting that one. She collected more fertilizer, sprinkled it around the base of the plant, and then packed it in. She finished with a few more steady streams of water brought on by Aguamenti. "Ugh. All done." ... "I hope."

Hmm, really? Glancing to the side, she stared at the moment before her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Oh hey, Sierra, found one..." Hmmm, right there. Hehe. Point.

Stopping the water charm, Evelyn looked back to her own plant to see if it was alright. She trimmed it, fertilized it, and now watered it, all in the extremely early morning, so if it looked a little OFF from the distance....blame it on teenage laziness and not her.

As Sierra started to trim the second bush, Evelyn went around, close nearby, to see if there was anything else needed. Couldn't she just pic a plant that's already awesome looking and say she did that? Would Bentley even know!? Because she was tired, and wanted to go back to sleep, and get out of this ridiculous yellow shirt that was blinding her. Running her hands through her hand (without the gloves on), the Slytherin sighed before eying a batch of daisies. Well, she didn't need to trim THOSE, but she could fertilize and water them.

Putting on her gloves, she took a handful of fertilizer and sprinkled it around the daisies, kinda mixing it in with the dirt as she packed it in at the same time. Hearing that Sierra was done, Evelyn glanced over her shoulder as she took off her gloves, letting them fall to the floor before taking her wand out again. Meh, they weren't her gloves. And these goggles...they joined the gloves on the floor as well.

Watering the daisies was the extremely easy part and once THAT was done, Evelyn took a step back. "DONE!" DONE DONE DONE!!

Oops, maybe that wasn’t the proper thing to joke about. Kurumi had assumed that since Jonathan was responsible – at least he gave off the air of being so – that there was little chance of him snipping off one of his fingers. “You are doing fantastic,” she nodded encouragingly. He did have dragonhide gloves on, so there was no risk of him even breaking the skin. If the teeth of that man-eating plant from last term hadn’t done it, Kurumi was sure that some old garden sheers wouldn’t be up to the challenge either.

And no, she wasn’t barking but speaking. Did he think she was an animagus? Sure, her abilities were a bit similar, but there was a big difference between a metamorphagus and an animagus. Namely that one trait was inherited and the other studied.

Kurumi continued to snip at her plant with the sheers, pulling out old twigs and dead or dying leaves as she did, until there was nothing but vibrant colors left. Yep, this suited the shrivelfigs much more.

She then made a quick run towards the supply cabinet for some dragon and mooncalf dung which she then combined into a bucket – she had read that this plant did best with a combination of the two. She made one more small bucket and brought both of them back to where Jonathan stood and handed him one. “Now for a fresh blanket of this and we are all set!”

Kurumi tipped her bucket over and began spreading the dung combination around in the dirt until it was mixed it and pushed herself back up off her knees – dusting off her robes and removing her dragonhide gloves.

Consider this Herbology assignment done!

Audrey began her trip to the greenhouse by revisiting her friend, the talking toadstool, and giving him water and fertilizing him with mooncalf solution, since she had forgotten to water him for several days.

1. Though Audrey had missed the lesson, she managed to get notes on the Flutterby Bush her classmates had been working on in class. She saw an unattended one next to a long row of perfectly neat ones she suspected were her classmates' bushes. Approaching the bush, she was ready to do this. "What was the charm? Flipitwit? Flipnsnip?" This was going to be more difficult than she had previously thought. "Flipnsnipwitit!" she shouted when remembering the name of the charm. "Flipnsnipwitit!" she said again for good measure.
2.Audrey preceded to dig a hole in the ground, after putting on her gloves and getting her supplies first. She measured the pot and kept about an inch of extra room.
3. She then walked over to the fowl-smelling dragon dung. Audrey took a handful and quickly loosened the soil at the bottom of her hole. She then sprinkled the dragon dung into the hole, holding her breath as she did so.
4. She loosened the soil around her bush and gently pulling, released the bush from the pot. She gave it a good solid shake to make sure all the extra soil was off.
5. Audrey stuck the plant into the hole and happily replaced the soil she had just removed back into the hole. She then pat down the soil around the base, taking care not to pat too hard.
6. "Aguamenti" she said as she flicked her wand at the base of the bush. Audrey checked to see that the soil was moist, and that her new plant friend was getting enough water. She felt the moist soil and felt a surge of happiness run through her. She was really starting to like herbology; she felt a connection with the plants.
7.Audrey returned to the container of dragon dung and grabbed less than a handful. She sprinkled the base of the bush. Finally time to tag her plant.
"Audrey Nichole Holiday" she wrote on the piece of paper she tied to a brach on her Flutterby Bush.
"Finally done" she said

Eino made his way to the Greenhouses with all of is equipment, ready to do some planting. He had taken his dragon hide gloves, of course, scissors, just in case, dragon dung, which sadly he hadn't collected himself, and of course, the seeds and spores to plant. His first plant of choice was risky, but he had never planted it so he was up for the challenge. They were the Elvin Army. Once he arrived at the Greenhouses, he found a vacant spot large enough to handle the toadstools. He had read that they grew quickly, so he wanted to plant them somewhere where they could multiply without damaging other plants.

He found the perfect spot, by the corner, approached it, placed his bag on the ground and kneeled in front of it. He removed the small container with the spores, the one with the dung, and after putting his dragon hide gloves on he took out his wand. The vacant space was rather large for Eino to dig with his own hands, so he thought he would use his wand for this one. So, after picking it up and aiming it at the soil her said "Defodio." And continued to do so to dig a hole big enough, but not too deep. Then he collected all of the additional soil and placed it on the side. He would need that for later.

Next, he opened the container with the dung and sprinkled some of it on the soil. He also watered the soil only slightly, to moisten it. Instead of using his wand directly on the soil he filled a can, then sprinkled the water on the soil. When he was done he put the can aside and picked up the container with the spores. He only had a little bit, but he was told that was sufficient to grow a fairly large group of Eva so he didn't put all of them on the soil, but only half. He then sprinkled some soil on the spores but did not cover them completely, or else they would suffocate. He finished by applying a tiny bit of water.

There, one was done. He used the rest of the water he had left to water other plants in the greenhouse, then got up and looked for a different spot for his next plant.

Nice. He's doing okay even after that semi-scary joke she just said. Well, maybe she's just teasing about the snipping off a finger. Or maybe not. It's still scaring Jonathan though.

He smiled at Kurumi not knowing if he still wants to continue or not. Of course, has he forgot his manners already? "Thank you" he said, for the compliment. He was never good in doing labor work so Kurumi's compliment was really nice to hear.

Looking at her as she paced her way to the cabinet to get a rather foul smell people call 'fertilizer'. Is that it? Do they call it fertilizer? Jonathan heard his mother talked about that once to her friend. I think they were talking about garden and plants at that time. He still remembers the bonsai in his parent's room. His mother once told him to take good care of but he never did. Boy, his mother was so angry at that. Seriously, how was he going to take care of it. Watering the bonsai is enough right?

It still died though. Bummer.

Jonathan covered his nose as Kurumi went near and piled up a couple of whatever it is into the plants. Ewwww. "Is the plant NOT going to die?" he said in a rather low voice. Right now, he's not breathing at all. Afraid to sniff the awful smell from that bucket.

Is putting dung really necessary?

Jonathan just stood there and stared at her. Not very gentleman of him to do so now. But he couldn't help it. He doesn't work with dirt. Maybe he'll fail Herbology if he keeps this behavior up.

As Eino was walking around the greenhouse and looking for a spot to plant something else, he noticed the flutterby bushes the students had planted in one of their lessons. The bushes were looking rather bushy and a few twigs had already broken and dried. So, instead of planting something new, he thought he would take care of these, instead. He was going to need more water, some fertilizer, and his wand.

With his wand, Eino began to trim and snip the dried twigs and leaves of the bushes. He used the Snipping Charm Professor Bentley taught them to do this. He began very carefully, considering the plant's constant quivering, and snipped away. As he moved from one bush to the other, he felt more confident so he picked up some speed. He made sure to always gathers the dead twigs and leaves before he moved on to a new bush, otherwise it would look all messy.

By the time he finished trimming all of the flutterby bushes his hand was aching, but they were looking much better, so he was still motivated to work. Now he needed to spinkle some fertilizer on them. He took the bucket of fertilizer and little by little took some on his hand and sprinkled it throughout the entire soil. Other than too long and dry the bushes looked good, so he didn't need to loosen the soil or anything. He then pointed his wand at the water can and said: "Aguamenti." The can filled with water and Eino began watering each of the bushes as he sang. Each bush got a cool shower of water. Then the fertilizer Eino had sprinkled really began to... stink. That meant it was time to go.

He returned every single tool he had used from the Professor neatly where he had found them. He then packed of his belongings and before leaving gave one last quick look at his Elvin Army and the Flutterby Bushes. Yep, they were good.